Tara and I have always
been proud of the fact that we’re not total workaholics. Even coming
from an advertising agency background we’ve always believed that if you
can’t get it done in 40 hours a week then you’re doing something wrong.

As
creative entrepreneurs it can be hard to it shut down. The lines
between work and life are blurred when you’re passionate about growing
your business. And as of two weeks ago daylight savings has sprung us
forward an hour - completely jacking with our internal circadian rhythm
that tells us when to wake up, begin work, and more importantly shut
down the computer, eat dinner and go to bed.

Here is how we try to maintain that work / life balance and clues for when we’re overextending ourselves.

We’ll start with me.

I know I’m maintaining a pretty good work / life balance when:

1. I can fit in my daily work out - I use this time to decompress and transition from working out of my house to just being at home.

2. When I watch my favorite shows in real time - there’s nothing like watching The Walking Dead or Mad Men when it airs.

3. When I have time to indulge in a Netflix marathon -
on the flip side of watching shows as they air there is something
special about watching three seasons of Breaking Bad in a span of two
weeks.

4. When my schedule is in synch with my 9-to-5 husband - that means we’re going to sleep, waking up and eating meals together.

5. When I have time to enjoy a happy hour cocktail -
sometimes a work out is not enough to decompress from a long week. I
like to enjoy a nice glass of wine or local microbrewed beer after a
productive day of work.

It’s
a little trickier for Tara because she’s got two kiddos in the mix -
but here’s how she knows she’s doing a good job of juggling it all with
grace:

1. She manages to pack school lunches at a reasonable hour - without going “mommy dearest” crazy and throwing ziploc sandwich baggies everywhere.

3. She gets to go to “guilty pleasure” movies at the actual theatre complete with popcorn and syrupy soda - this means psychotic grossout movies that I cannot fathom how she gets so much glee out of, like Hostel or The Hills Have Eyes.

4. She can hole up in her room with a novel for at least a two-hour stretch -
when we were kids she’d lock us all out of her room to read Little
Women for the twentieth time while we pounded on the door or tried to
slip notes under the crack “play with us pleasssseee.”

Sometimes
we don’t recognize when the scales are being tipped. It’s easy to get
caught up in the stress that comes with being a creative entrepreneur so
here are some warning signs or clues that you’re on the brink of a work
/ life meltdown:

1. You forget to eat - I always
thought this was something celebrities said to mask an eating disorder.
So when I realized I had forgotten to eat lunch one day I was shocked
that paparazzi wasn’t chasing me around at the same time.

2. You have nothing to blog about
- I find that when I’m out of ideas for things to blog about on my
personal lifestyle blog that I’ve probably been working (or thinking
about work) too much.

3. You have no sense of humor - Our designer Kristin finds that she has zero capacity to process jokes when she’s feeling stressed.

4. Your kids get your attention by talking to you about work
- Tara’s kid Charlie will say things like “Now, Super Mario is kind of
like Braid because …” or will replicate our logo in colored markers for
praise instead of drawing normal kid things like cars and dinosaurs.

How do you juggle a good work / life balance? What are some clues that you’re overextending yourself? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

THE BRAID BLOG from TARA AND KATHLEENBraid Creative & Consulting is branding and business visioning for creative entrepreneurs. The Braid Blog is where we share weekly insights and resources for creatives.

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